can understand why players are leaving

lets be real the game is in a terrible state currently, you have one viable build for the whole game at the moment which is lightning spear and the rest are just garbage damage with all the nerfs, there is literally 0 build diversity within the game anymore, looking at it properly this was probably intentional by the devs to make the huntress the only character people would play for the league and to make it look a better class than it actually is.

Thats simply not true: huntress with somewhat good gear, lets say worth 4 divines, can use all kinds of skills other than lightning spear to clear mobs effectively: be it rake, spearfield, fangs of frost + glacial lance to mention only the most efficient alternatives.
The issue currently is that using these skills and good gear quickly leads to outscaling the content: instead of being able to execute the combos like executing bleeding mobs with blood hunt, a single rake already kills them.
People have the strange habit to promote the least fun playstyles (like lightning spear builds that even circumvent the need to build up frenzy charges via an unique to make it even mote mindless), as if the game would be a speed farming competition.

"

Elena#1466 wrote:

Thats simply not true: huntress with somewhat good gear, lets say worth 4 divines, can use all kinds of skills other than lightning spear to clear mobs effectively: be it rake, spearfield, fangs of frost + glacial lance to mention only the most efficient alternatives.
The issue currently is that using these skills and good gear quickly leads to outscaling the content: instead of being able to execute the combos like executing bleeding mobs with blood hunt, a single rake already kills them.
People have the strange habit to promote the least fun playstyles (like lightning spear builds that even circumvent the need to build up frenzy charges via an unique to make it even mote mindless), as if the game would be a speed farming competition.

Actually, the game is pretty badly designed.
PoE 2 has an issue promoting build diversity, because, the most mindless build is the most effective build with the highest rate of 'guaranteed rewards' within a reasonable time.

Build diversity fun only reigns when you can easily gain access to content to test them effectively.

For example, you mentioned Blood hunt/rake/etc. You can try to build around these and it's more time consuming and less effective than simply playing Lightning Spear.

To make my point clearer, if a. Warrior wants to test some obscure poison spear build, it can be done. But he will need to be in testing zone for a significantly longer time than the more effective mindless LS build its a Deadeye or Huntress.

You are probably equating multiple characters to people with not much time. Many gamers have too many games / entertainment choices compared to the utter RNG nonsense this game provides.

At this point, if you want to enjoy the full game content, it is best enjoyed with the most effective build simply because you will be able to reach it faster, and most importantly less painfully.

Let's be honest. The draw for this game is not in its boss designs or play style. It is about how to kill each mob the fastest. With its current state it will never be able to cater to those players wanting consistent progression (due to RNG and non targetable upgrades) or those wanting meaningful difficult gameplay, from stupid 1 shot mechanics in random maps.

i feel like we have no endgame.

https://steamcharts.com/app/2694490#All

Jesus, that is absolutely HORRIBLE numbers. Like LOL.

I mean when "Geometry Dash" and "Hearts of Iron 4" are getting more players than you... That should be a sign.

"

PoE2-Necromancer#7862 wrote:

lets be real the game is in a terrible state currently, you have one viable build for the whole game at the moment which is lightning spear and the rest are just garbage damage with all the nerfs, there is literally 0 build diversity within the game anymore, looking at it properly this was probably intentional by the devs to make the huntress the only character people would play for the league and to make it look a better class than it actually is.

That is factually false, people play and in viable form with at least half a dozen builds.

Also peopel stop playing because SANE, functional humans do not play a game in repeat mode for months non stop. They play some then when they are satisfied they wait until somethign new come along and they go do other stuff.

"

blacryan2#4582 wrote:

https://steamcharts.com/app/2694490#All

Jesus, that is absolutely HORRIBLE numbers. Like LOL.

I mean when "Geometry Dash" and "Hearts of Iron 4" are getting more players than you... That should be a sign.

Did you look at other ARPGs tho? What's your excuse for Last Epoch having TWICE less players than PoE2?

https://steamcharts.com/app/899770

Also people says there's only one good build, oh really? how come me and my friends are able to do all the content in the game without even look at a guide and without trading?

game current state is just Lightning Spear Simulator. you begin or end up somewhere with LS eventualy. unless if you are not playing 'action' rpg.

"

Warrax#2850 wrote:

Also people says there's only one good build, oh really? how come me and my friends are able to do all the content in the game without even look at a guide and without trading?

It seems 'ultimate denial' is also a working build that can do all content;

Something is off for sure. To start trading is crap because I refuse to person to person trade. I don't have the patience or time. No AH, no trading for me.

I have played several Classes/ Monk, Witch, Sorcerer and Huntress this league.

My Huntress has outperformed all the rest for all content for me so far as of Lvl 60 Cruel Act 2.

All the rest feel like watching paint dry as I try to go through the Campaign compared to my Huntress(Amazon with Rare/Boss killing nodes). I use LS as well, however I also use Rake, Whirling Slash x2, Explosive Spear/Storm Lance and Thunderous Leap. Pure Armor and Evasion. I use LS for choke points only and the rest of the skill/combos for open areas and even w/o LS I devastate anything.

I have been struggling to find something "efficient" with my Witch/Lich so far and it's just painful. Spectres are broken or just incomplete and I don't want to run a bunch of skeleton minions. So just last night I tried out using one Spectre that seems to work (meaning it's using it's rare powers, at least one of them) and changed to a Chaos Blasphemy build augmented with Unearth and it feels like I am constantly roll dodging to allows DOTs to happen because I have zero "punch" damage abilities at lvl 35 campaign normal so far.

I stopped using my Monk at lvl 30 because ringing a Bell as my main attack system was boring and melee is just a slog so far.

Sorceress/Stormweaver as of lvl 38 seems pretty decent so far. Spark/fire/ice build gets the job done with a lot of button pushing which is just exhausting after 30mins.

Basically the Amazon is purpose built to crit and burndown trash with passives maxed out in Dmg/Crits to High/Low HP targets and is able to burn down rares/bosses with the Amazon Boss Weakness passives in addition to running two companions with 3-4 abilities each to tank and add massive AOE damage combined with Invulnerability.

Everything else simply struggles to get the job done in a timely and fun manner.

As for the number of players argument between POE2 and LE..I can only guess that since this is a true pay to play beta at this point only die hards and bored people keep playing.

I play because nothing else is grabbing my attention right now. LE is Steam only and I refuse to buy games via Steam since 2024 for two main reasons, otherwise I would be playing/trying LE if they had a stand alone client like D4 or POE 2.